Christmas is only a month away!

November 25 - start decorating!
.
Another reason I'm into Christmas so early and love it that Christmas stuff is up in the public square (ads, merchandise, etc.) is that I always make stuff for Christmas.  This year I continue my work on card designs - picking up where I left off last year, and I'm also doing Bethlehem backgrounds for the nativity at my parish.  Not huge ones - just 30" x 40" views out the stable windows.  It's fun - not great art - but pazzi and fanciful - I'm working without preliminary drawings - or strict composition.  Just doing it.
.
Making things for Christmas - to sell, to gift, to donate - it makes the season come alive - it allows the prep time to be as much fun as the season itself - which lasts from December 25 all the way to Candlemass - February 2!

.
The photo's here are early examples of some work I did for an exclusive interior design company - way back in 1989!  They are copies of Fra Angelico angels - flat boards I cut out, painted and gilded, and then mounted on a wood base I painted faux ivory and lapis, adding gold ball feet.  I think the firgures were about 40" tall.  At the time they retailed at $450 each.
.